As I've just turned 40 I thought it was time to push myself in new directions with my art. I've always loved drawing potraits but never really worked on my shading and tonal work much, and had been too afraid to really push myself into developing this area. Anyways I've been watching Angelina Benedetti [link] for a while now and she leaves me in constant awe with her beautiful ballpoint pen or 'biro' portraits, her Natalie Portman work is simply gorgeous. So thought I'd get completely out of my element and try something similar.

I learnt a lot doing this one, I quickly realised you have to keep a piece of paper handy to regularly wipe the point of the pen otherwise you'll get a little blob of ink on the tip which will cause a blot when you put pen to paper. I also learnt you have to really concentrate and think about where you're going to put each line as there's no really easy way to correct mistakes. I did make several errors with lines on this which I've attempted to correct digitally, oh and those faint horizontal lines across her face were caused because the pen picked up the edge of the paper I was resting on underneath, kinda like when you make a brass rubbing. I'll know to avoid that next time.

I'm quite happy with how she turned out overall, improvements can be made sure, but I don't think it's too bad for a first attempt at a new media. Anyways enjoy, and don't worry I'm not stopping with the pin-ups!

It is a shame about the horizontal lines, that at first I thought were caused by your scanner Your pen and drawing skills are excellent. I tend to just browse and appreciate others art, but after seeing this nice drawing you have inspired/motivated me to draw some pictures of my own (I haven't drawn since school and I'm 34!!. A++

That's very kind of you and one of the best comments I've received! I'm blown away that I could inspire you enough to make you think of picking up a pencil and trying something new, that's pretty amazing really